The Olympians: Book 1
by SiriusBlackLover2000
Summary: Riley Bloom finds out she is a Half-blood and suddenly her whole world is spun upside down. Her and her two best friends Adam and Justin are sent on a quest to defeat Theseus --the legend was all wrong!-- who has kidnapped the goddess Electra.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Nobody warned me that I was about to be transported to some camp in Long Island, New York. Nobody warned me I was about to go on the most dangerous journey of my life (not that I'd had any journeys anyway) and certainly nobody warned me or could have prepared me for getting a very shocking letter from my mom at my boarding school.

I was paged to the office during math class so I quickly got permission from Ms. Mullen to go.

Once I arrived, the secretary handed me an envelope. It read:

Riley Bloom

Horace Green Boarding School

Philadelphia

I recognized the neat cursive writing as my moms' so I opened the letter and began to read.

_Riley,_

_Chiron warned me I should tell you before you were thirteen. Now is the time. For as long as you could remember, you had no father. I lied to you when I said his name was James. He did leave us when you were born but it's not what you'd think. Your father is Poseidon. I should have told you a lot earlier but I was afraid you wouldn't be safe anymore. I know it may be hard for you to believe, but your real father is a god of Mt. Olympus. I should have known that it would be more dangerous when you were older. I am so sorry to have your world suddenly turned upside down. It happened to me when your father told me who he really was. Please believe me. I want you to be safe. I have no time to explain what is happening and what is going to happen to you because I am at work but as soon as school is over, pack your things and take a bus to Long Island, New York. There will be a man dressed like a homeless person who will recognize you and take you to Camp Half-blood. His name is Apollo. He likes to flirt so don't be offended. I am very sorry that I couldn't tell you earlier. Just know that no matter what happens, I will always love you._

_-Mom_

I'll be honest; I had no idea whether to believe my mom or not. I mean, how would you feel if your mom told you your father was Hercules or something? Or that your sister was really some monster with snakes coming out of her head? But _m__y_ father. Poseidon? The god of the sea? Yeah right! My dad really had left after I was born but there was no way he was a Greek god. Those times were over like, thousands of years ago! True, I had never seen pictures of my dad. Mom told me she had given them all to Grandma. But maybe that was a lie, too. Had I been believing lies my whole life? Maybe my mom wasn't my real mom, either. Maybe my name wasn't Riley. I was confused, torn, but most of all angry.

I folded the letter and put it in my pocket. Camp Half-Blood. I thanked the secretary who smiled kindly back at me.

I went up to my dorm quickly so that none of the teachers would notice me.

Once I was finished packing all my stuff, I dug around for some money for a bus ticket but then saw one lying on my bed. I certainly didn't remember buying a bus ticket… I smoothed down my long brown hair and headed out of my dorm.

I knew all the hallways and classrooms at Horace Green by heart. I also knew when and where the teachers would be coming and going.

I waited for five minutes behind the washroom door for Mr. Pekarsky, the band teacher, who was humming a song at an incredibly horrible pitch to pass by and then hurried out the front door of the huge school building.

I looked back for one last time. I had no good memories of Horace Green, no friends, no boyfriends and no good teachers. I guess you could say I didn't mind leaving.

Once I was safely down the street and out of view from any teachers who happened to be looking out of their classroom windows, I stopped at the bus stop to New York and looked at my ticket. Where did it come from? I wondered if someone was secretly trying to help me.

Before I could think anything else, a bus screeched to a halt in front of me. The doors opened and a few passengers stepped out. I picked up my heavy suitcase and stepped into the bus.

There were only three passengers. All of them except for one looked normal.

The abnormal one looked around thirteen like me. He wore black skinny jeans, black Converse shoes, and a black leather jacket over top of a blue t-shirt. He flicked his head to get his long black bangs out of his face. The rest of his hair was black and stuck up in the back. He had a black stud in one ear and he looked at me rather intently with electric blue eyes that had yellow bolt-like lines running through them, like lightning. There didn't seem anything strange about him but he just didn't… seem normal.

I kept my head down to avoid his penetrating stare and sat a few rows away from him. My insides squirmed with nervousness. I was scared that maybe my mom was joking and that I was skipping school for most likely the rest of my life for no reason whatsoever. And also because… that guy was kind of hot.

About two hours of sitting in the lumpy seat of the bus, it finally halted at the bus stop. I got off after the guy who gave me one last intense look and ran at an unusually fast pace down the street until he disappeared out of sight. That was weird.

I looked for a hobo guy with my suitcase in hand. I saw two but both of them glared at me when I tried to approach them. Reddening with embarrassment, I turned and quickly away, pretending I was about to be late for something.

"Riley!" someone called from behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I stopped and turned around. A man who looked probably in his late forties dressed in a ragged plaid shirt and ripped, dirty jeans beckoned for me to follow him. I did and once we were out of earshot from most passers-by, he said, "You're mother told me to get you safely to Camp Half-blood. My name is Apollo."

"Apollo?" I frowned. "The sun god?"

"The one and only," he flashed a grin in my direction. His teeth were disgusting. "Sorry. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

He disappeared into a dark alleyway and came back a minute later. Now he was about seventeen or so with light blonde hair, tanned skin, and wearing expensive looking jeans, a yellow polo shirt, and dark shades.

"_Now_ I'm Apollo." He grinned again and I thought I was going to be blinded by his strait, white teeth. "May I escort you into our transportation device for today?" he asked me.

"Um… sure." I said.

He snapped his fingers and parked right beside us was a red MR Spyder.

"Whoa." I stared at it in awe.

"Don't tell Zeus. He doesn't usually allow us to use magic in front of mortals." Apollo nodded at the people passing by, giving us odd looks. "Now, as I was saying," he opened the passenger door for me and I stepped in and sat on the warm leather seats.

Apollo stuck my suitcase in the back and then hopped into the driver's seat. He started the engine with a roar and then he slammed on the gas pedal.

I tried to keep my scream inside. We were going at like 180!

"You might want to hold on to something, Riley." Apollo said, looking completely relaxed. I held on to the edge of my seat and the front wheels of the car lifted off the ground. Then the back wheels. We went up, up, up until we couldn't see the traffic down below.

"We're in a flying car." I said, my eyes wide.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Apollo grinned.

"Uh… yeah, sure, it's really cool." And actually, once we had slowed down, it was pretty nice. We were pretty much driving on the clouds. It was smooth and the sun made it warm.

"What's my dad like? Do you know him?" I asked Apollo.

"Do I ever! We're like, best friends! Okay, well maybe not _best_ friends but you know, we see each other every summer and winter solstice and on other occasions like when I get too hot. Temperature wise, of course." He said. "He's helpful. He isn't the type to give you strait answers. He'll give you… questions that lead you to the answers. Does that make sense? He falls in love really easily but he's faithful and loyal. And he'll stand up for you when you need him."

It felt weird having a stranger tell me about my dad. I asked him, "Does that mean I'm like that, too?"

"I dunno. Are you?" Apollo looked at me seriously.

I frowned. "I guess so."

"Well, he's nice, all in all."

"What's Camp Half-Blood like?"

"Oh, it's great! I've stopped by a few times to drop off demi-gods-"

"Who?"

"Demi-god is another word for Half-Blood. Someone who is half-mortal and half god. Where was I? Ah yes! Camp Half-Blood is really cool. There's all sorts of stuff you can do. You know, archery, chariot racing, canoeing, volleyball, you get the picture. And I'm sure you'll meet tons of friends. Trust me; there'll be loads of kids in your cabin."

"How do I know which cabin I'm in?"

"Well, whoever your parent is. There's Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, Demeter, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Hermes."

"You have kids?" I asked.

"Yeah! Like, ten of them!" He answered, sounding a little offended. "Trust me. The ladies aren't able to resist this," he pointed at his face.

"Um, okay…But what about Artemis? Isn't she not allowed to marry?"

"Well, when a girl is born, she will either send them a blessing so they will grow up to be her sister or just leaves them be. Her sisters usually stay at Camp Half-Blood until Artemis wants to accept them into the Hunt."

"Cool. But what if I don't find any friends?" I asked.

"I can promise you that you will." He assured me.

I nodded.

The rest of the drive was spent listening to music and Apollo answering my questions.

At last, he started lowering the car. Once we were past the clouds, I could see the camp. It was gigantic! There was a huge racing ring, a stable, a pavilion, a huge barn, a strawberry field, a big blue house, an arena, an amphitheatre, a forgery, a forest, a huge field, an almost-life-sized volcano, and of course, Long Island Sound.

It was more amazing than anything I had ever seen in my whole life. It was like a whole other world.

"Welcome to Camp Half-blood, Riley." Apollo said as the car touched the ground.

"Whoa," I looked around the camp in awe.

Apollo and I got out of the car and he handed me my suitcase.

"I'd better be off," he checked a watch that had a sun dial and roman numerals instead of hands and numbers.

"Well… thanks for the lift." I said.

"No problem," he flashed another flirtatious grin at me and then hopped into his car. The engine revved and he was off.

Suddenly, I had no idea what to do. Did I find the camp director? Did I go straight to my cabin? I was clueless.

Just as I was beginning to think I couldn't get any more helpless, a centaur trotted towards me. Yeah, a centaur. He had tanned skin and was wearing a plaid button down shirt. He looked at me kindly with bright brown eyes that stood out against his grey hair and neat grey beard. The horse part of him was pure white and strong.

"You must be Riley Bloom." He guessed.

I nodded.

"My name is Chiron. I'm the activities director here." He held out a hand and I shook it.

"Uh… what do I do?" I asked. I wished I hadn't. I sounded like a kid on their first day of grade one. Clueless and nervous.

"Well, first I should introduce you to our Camp Director. Come with me to the Big House. Then you can settle into your cabin until dinner time." he answered.

I followed him to the big blue house. Chiron opened the door.

Sitting at a poker table was a short man with slicked back hair, black shades and a yellow Hawaiian tiger print shirt with khaki shorts and sandals that matched his shirt. He was drinking a can of diet coke and shuffling a deck of cards.

"Mr. D, this is our newest camper, Riley Bloom." Chiron said.

The man looked up and sighed as if someone was interrupting an important business meeting. "Determined or Undetermined?"

"Determined, sir, she is a daughter of Poseidon." Chiron replied.

Mr. D.'s eyebrows rose behind his glasses but he said with a smirk, "Well, Riley Bloom welcome to Camp Half-Blood, and blah, blah, blah. That's what you snotty teenagers say nowadays, right?"

I opened my mouth and tried to think of a reply.

"I'll ask a camper to show Riley around Camp." Chiron said quickly.

"Whatever." Mr. D. snapped. "Just make her do something useful around here."

Chiron led me outside again. "Don't worry about Mr. D.; he didn't exactly have a choice about running Camp Half-blood."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He was banished from Mt. Olympus."

"Mr. D. is a god?" I tried not to sound to surprised.

"Why of course, he's Dionysus."

Of course! The god of feasting and wine. I remembered in Social Studies class I had learned that he had fallen in love with the princess, Ariadne, when Theseus had left her on the island of Naxos. I decided I'd try to stay on his good side from now on.

"Riley, I will get one of our campers to show you around camp. For now, you can put your luggage into your cabin. It's second to the right of the biggest one." Chiron clip-clopped back to the Big House.

I rolled my suitcase on the grass behind me as I walked towards the cabin that Chiron had pointed. It's walls were white and looked as though it had been splashed by waves too many times. The ceiling was dark green and shimmering. It smelled like the sea.

I opened the white door and stepped inside, expecting to see a few other kids. Instead it was completely empty. All of the beds looked as though they hadn't been touched and there it was completely empty except for the dressers.

_Thanks, Apollo._ I thought as I unpacked my clothes.

Someone knocked on the door so I opened it and just barely stopped myself from gasping when I saw the hot guy who was staring at me on the bus earlier.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He didn't look surprised at all, though, he just offered the hint of a smile and said as if he already knew, "So, you're Riley."

I nodded, unable to speak.

"I'm Adam Pierce." He told me.

"Hi," I managed to say.

"I'll show you around the camp. Come on."

I followed him as he showed me pretty much every inch of camp.

After about twenty-five minutes or so, a gong rang from the pavilion.

"Dinner time." Adam said. "You're lineup is the fourth from the left. Just line up, get the nicest foods you can find, and offer it up to your parent in the fire. Then you can get food for yourself."

"Are there any other kids in my cabin?" I asked.

"No, sorry. Your brothers left last year. But I'm the only one in mine. Aside from my sister, of course."

"But… I don't have any brothers." I said.

"Anyone in your cabin is considered a sibling because you have the same parent."

"Oh… okay. Well, what cabin are you in?"

"Zeus." He replied. Without another word, he turned and ran to the pavilion.

Knowing I didn't want to be the very last one there, I hurried to my line up. I grabbed a plate and a goblet and followed Adam's directions, taking the nicest foods I could find and dumping it into a small fire pit. '_Here's to you, dad_.' I thought.

All alone, I ate my food in silence. I kept on looking at the Zeus table where Adam and a girl around seven with brown hair who I guessed was his sister sat. He didn't look my way once but him and his sister seemed to be talking intently. His sister looked at me but immediately turned back to Adam when I caught her eye. Yep, I was pretty sure they were talking about me. How comforting.

After dinner I went back to my cabin. Pinned on the inside of my door was a schedule.

I got to do whatever I wanted until the camp fire sing along. What fun. I thought the idea of sitting around the fire singing cheesy songs was lame, personally. I wasn't exactly the kind of person who liked to do little kid stuff.

Deciding there was nothing better to do, I walked towards the dock. I usually felt most safe and comfortable by the water. On my way, Adam caught up to me.

"Hi," he said.

"You were talking about me at dinner weren't you?" I accused him right away.

"You could tell?"

"Well, the looks from your sister might have made it a little obvious." I replied.

"Macy wanted to know who you were, that's all. Nothing personal." He said. "We didn't mean to make you feel bad or anything."

I just nodded my head once, still feeling a little angry.

He smiled as if making me mad were fun. "Want me to show you the forest?" he asked, his eyes alight with excitement.

"Oh, sure." I replied.

He led me to the massive green forest. Before we entered, I asked, "Are there any… monsters or anything in there?"

"Nah. There's no way for any monster to enter Camp Half-Blood unless someone summons them." He replied as though he really wanted to summon one.

"Has that ever happened before?" I asked.

Adam's face darkened. "Once. It happened four years ago. One of the campers was going on a Quest to the Underworld. Another camper who was secretly aligned with the Titan Lord-"

"Kronos?" I asked in disbelief.

Thunder rumbled for overhead and storm clouds swirled around in the skies.

"Ssshh!" Adam warned me as if it were obvious. "Don't say his name."

"Sorry." I blushed.

He shrugged. "Whatever. New campers' mistake. Anyways, that guy summoned a Hellhound into the camp borders and it attacked it hero. But come on, I want to show you something really cool."

He started to run. Oh crap, I thought as I tried to catch up. I ran as fast as I could but he was out of sight. I slowed down, expecting him to appear right beside me. Panting, I looked around but couldn't find him.

"Adam?" I said. He didn't come out. "Adam?" I called a little louder. Okay, I was fine. I could probably just find my way back to the camp. The forest wasn't _too _big, anyways. I'd find a way out.

Just as I turned around, he dropped from a tree branch inches away from me.

I shrieked and jumped back.

He laughed. It sounded cute. He grinned when he did and it sounded really funny.

I pretended to glare at him. "Don't _do_ that!" I put my hands on my hips.

He grinned. "You should've seen the look on your face! It was hilarious." He did a rather hysterical impersonation of someone jumping three feet into the air with their eyes wide as saucers.

I shoved him but he just shoved me back jokingly.

"Come on. This time I won't run." He promised.

I sighed and followed him.

After a few minutes, he stopped at a huge boulder sticking out from the ground.

"Uh… it's a rock." I said.

He nodded as if there was something more to it.

"A _big_ rock…?"

He rolled his eyes and took my hand. I felt butterflies go wild inside my stomach. He led me a few steps back and then a little to the left.

"Do you see it now?" he asked.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" I asked, looking really closely at it.

By now, he had let go of my hand and replied, "If you look at it at the right angle, it's shaped like a huge fist."

I looked closely and finally saw that he was right. "I see it now!"

"Cool, huh? They call it Zeus's fist." He said.

"Is there Poseidon's trident?" I joked.

He raised an eyebrow as if that were the lamest joke in the world. "No. But do you want to climb to the top?"

"Sure, I guess." I didn't want to know how hard it was going to be for him to climb onto a huge boulder with skinny jeans on but I just trusted that he knew how to do it.

"You get on first. I'll give you a boost." He offered.

"Oh, sure."

He told me to grab onto one of the indents near the top of the boulder. Then he took my waist and counted to three. Feeling the butterflies go wild again, I jumped when he got to three and managed to get my knee on top. I turned around carefully and sat down on it.

Adam headed towards a tree and started to climb until he was at a branch that hung right over top of the fist. I wondered why he didn't just let me go that way.

He walked easily down the branch that sagged only a small bit under his weight. Adam was thin but very, very strong and agile.

He hopped onto the rock beside me and took a seat.

"Why didn't I just go up that way?" I asked.

"It's my secret way."

"It's not a secret anymore."

"Well it'll by _our_ secret way if you don't tell anyone." He winked.

I liked the way he said 'our'. "You're secret's safe with me." I assured him.

He grinned.

"It's a nice view." I observed, looking at through the trees at the setting sun.

"Yeah." He agreed. After a minute of silence, he asked, "Are we friends?"

"Do you _want_ to be friends?"

"Yes."

"Now we are." I said.

He smiled. "So as a friend can I tell you that you have a spider in your hair?"

My eyes widened. "Get it out! Get it out!"

He took a large black spider out of my hair and dangled it in front of me by one if its legs.

"Don't!" I screamed, scrambling away from him as far as I could without falling off the rock.

He laughed and threw it away.

I scowled and resumed my spot next to him. "Thanks." I muttered.

"Anytime," he replied. "So you're scared of spiders?"

"Glad you noticed." I said sarcastically.

He shrugged. "I'm afraid of being alone."

"Really?" I asked. That didn't seem like a very manly thing to be afraid of.

"I mean, I can be home alone but… I don't want to lose all my friends and family. That's what I mean." He looked away as if he were embarrassed.

I almost took his hand but then decided not to. "That's okay. I'm scared of a lot more things. Probably way more than you."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Well, bugs, being chased in a place where I can't turn around, dreams where you fall and wake up when you hit the ground, the weird noises the furnace at my house makes, zombies, horror movies, you get the picture." I said.

He looked a lot better after that. He acted as if it were a bad thing to have a worse fear than someone else.

"We should probably go. It's getting dark." He said. He slid off the rock and then held out his arms to catch me.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah." the look he gave me was pretty convincing so I slid off the rock and landed in his arms. He barely faltered.

"I could carry you like this." He boasted.

I raised an eyebrow. "Just put me down. I have legs and I'd like to use them."

He took a taunting step forward.

"Adam."

He put me down.

"Thank you." I said.

"You're welcome." He replied. "What's your favorite color?"

So now it was random question time. "Green. Favorite… band?"

"The Cure. Favorite movie?"

"Plains, Trains, and Automobiles. Favorite kind of food?"

"Greek. Favorite vacation spot?"

"The Maldives. Place you want to go when you're older?"

"England."

"Same here!"

"The place where you feel most at home?" he asked as we headed to the campfire where the cabins were gathering.

"In the water. Favorite drink?"

"Strawberry Banana Smoothie. Favorite junk food?"

"Ice Cream, duh." I grinned as we sat down on the bleachers surrounding the roaring bonfire.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It turned the bonfire sing along was fun after all and I went to bed feeling full from all the s'mores I had eaten.

The next day I woke up at the sound of the gong for breakfast. Hurriedly, I got dressed, quickly brushed my hair, and stumbled out of my cabin with mismatched socks and one shoe only half on.

Once again, Adam appeared at my side as I headed to my line up.

"Hey." He grinned.

"Hi," I replied.

"The Zeus and Poseidon cabins both have sword fighting first thing. Do you want to go with me?"

"Sword fighting?" I asked, hoping I had heard wrong.

"Yeah, you have to begin your training." He said as if it were weird that I didn't know that.

"Training for what?"

"To be a hero, of course!"

"Well… I'm not going on a special quest or anything, so… do I still have to?"

"It's always good to be prepared in case you're offered a quest." Adam said knowledgably.

"Have you been on one?" I asked.

He opened his mouth as if he were about to say something totally heroic. "No…"

"But you probably wish you were." I guessed.

He nodded.

"To impress the ladies?" I teased him.

He blushed. "No. I don't have any girlfriends or anything. You're the first girl I've ever been friends with. And plus, I'd only impress one lady if I knew how." He smiled mischievously.

"And who's that? If you don't mind me asking." I was really hoping he'd say me but what were the chances of that? No boy I'd ever known or probably ever will know could be attracted to me.

"I'm not saying! You'll have to find out for yourself." Adam told me. "Am I the first guy you've ever been friends with?"

"You're the first friend I've ever been friends with." I corrected him.

He frowned as if it were really strange that no one had been friends with me before. That kind of made me feel better.

"Are you glad to have a friend?" he asked.

I smiled. "Yeah."

He looked proud of himself. "I'll see you at the arena." And without another word, he ran.

I headed to my empty line up, glancing over to see if Adam was looking at me. Of course, with my luck he wasn't. Jeez, I really needed to get this out of my mind. I couldn't have my mind centered around a guy.

Okay, I'll admit the whole breakfast time I was staring at Adam. Apparently, I couldn't get it out of my head. He probably didn't like me anyways. I mean, how many guys that I've liked have liked me back? None. But… he did hold my hand, even if it was to show me the proper way to look at Zeus's fist… and catch me when I dropped off the boulder… and he even picked a spider out of my hair. Most of the guys at Horace Green would make them 'magically appear' in my milk cartons.

I stood up and headed to the arena, noticing he wasn't at the Zeus table anymore. I noticed to my annoyance that I was the only one there.

I expected Adam to be right beside me and when I looked, there he was, looking as though he had been waiting for forever for me to notice him.

"So I'm not the only one here, after all?" I said, hands on my hips.

"Nope." He replied. "Want to get started?"

"Sure. Who's going to teach us?"

"I'm going to teach you." He told me. "Come on, let's get you a sword."

He led me into a room attached to the arena. Inside was all kinds of battle armor: shields, coifs, helmets, you name it.

He took a sheath off the wall and unsheathed a long steel sword with a bronze hilt. "This is Slayer." He ran his hand up the blade proudly. "Try to see which the best is for you."

"Okay." I started trying out different swords until I found one that balanced out almost perfectly.

Adam took me outside into the arena again. "We'll start with the basics until you get the hang of it and then I'll show you some cool techniques."

"Sounds good." I replied. Somehow I just knew I was about to embarrass myself. And knowing how clumsy I was, I might accidentally chop his head off.

For the first half hour he taught me how to properly handle a sword and maneuver with one. Then he showed me how to parry and attack.

I seemed to be getting the hang of it, but then Adam was probably taking it easy on me. Really easy.

"Are you taking it easy on me?" I asked as I tried to block some of his swift attacks.

"Of course I am! I'm not going to take it all out on a beginner!" he said as if it were obvious.

Beginner. I hated that word…

I tried harder, my brow creased with determination. His eyebrows raised as I pushed him.

"Playing games?" he sneered.

"No. Just trying to beat you." I replied.

In one breathtakingly fast movement, he had captured my sword.

"How did you do that?" I asked incredulously.

"What, that?" he said as if it where nothing. "It's just a technique I learned."

"Can you teach me?"

"No. First you have to learn how to actually attack someone."

"Wasn't I just doing that?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Let me rephrase that. How to actually attack someone the _real _way. When you're out in the real world, there's no second chances. No one takes it easy on you. I was unfortunate enough to learn that."

His eyes flashed for a second as if he were reliving a horrible memory as he walked over to the cooler to get a can of coke.

"What happened?" I asked carefully, taking a can for myself.

"Last year I had an unlucky encounter with a monster." He replied, sitting down on one of the stands.

"Were you on a quest?" I asked.

"No. I was going home for the school year. I got attacked by a Hydra and it left me this scar." He turned his arm and revealed a long white scar running from his forearm until it was concealed under his shirt.

"Wow. That must have been really painful." I remarked.

"The doctors thought I wouldn't make it out with my arm still intact." He said. "Come on; let's get some more work done while we can."

For the last half hour, he taught me more advanced techniques. I thought I was getting pretty good at handling a sword.

Once we were done, we put our swords away. Adam had a sweat streak down his chest and the sides of his hair were beginning to get curly from the wetness. It was cute. I kind of wished he would take his shirt off or something…

"Nice job." He told me, giving me a high five as we headed out of the arena.

"Thanks. What do we have next?" I asked.

"You have pottery with the Hephaestus cabin and I have canoeing with the Apollo cabin." He answered.

"Okay."

"I'll meet you at the basketball court at free period?" he asked.

I could tell he was trying not to look hopeful. I smiled. "I'll be there."

He winked at me and then ran off to the lake, leaving me on my way the Hephaestus campers.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Two weeks later I was really good at sword fighting and Adam and I were (there was no other way to put it) practically best friends.

After dinner one evening, we were washing the dishes.

"Riley… if I were offered a quest, would you come with me?" he asked out of the blue.

I thought for a moment. Going on a quest with Adam? That sounded good to me. "Yeah, why? Were you offered one?"

"No." he said hastily. "I was just wondering."

"Oh, okay." I bent down and pretended to pick something up to hide my grin from him.

"See you at the campfire." He said after we were done.

"See you." I said, heading to my cabin.

I opened the door to my cabin and pulled out a book. As hard as I tried to concentrate on the text, I couldn't get Adam's face out of my mind. Come on Riley, don't get obsessed it's just a guy. I told myself. Seriously, Riley, guys aren't faithful all the time! Stop thinking about him. But… Adam was faithful wasn't he? Yeah, but you've only known him eighteen days! He could be… a double agent for Kronos or something. Yeah, right. He's too hot er- nice to be one.

I shook my head and stopped arguing with myself. This was stupid. Adam and I were just friends and nothing more. Yeah, so maybe he was really, REALLY hot and nice and… funny and… all that good stuff but he probably didn't even like me in the first place. But he did act all flirty around me… and he always smiled at me. But he probably smiled at every one.

I was doing it again! I need some serious help. And something to get him off my mind. But there was the possibility that I didn't _want_ to get him off my mind.

Thankfully the bell signalling the campfire sing along rang so I hurried out to the bonfire hoping to catch up to Adam.

A week later, Adam and I were sword fighting in the arena. The sun beat down on us and made us sweat as we parried, blocked, at swung at each other. By now, he barely needed to take it easy on me and we were going pretty hard-core.

Just then, Chiron approached us and we stopped. Adam had his sword over his head, while I stood in a blocking stance, both of us panting hard and sweating harder.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your training, but I need both of you to come to the big house immediately." He looked serious but not angry.

Adam suddenly looked like he were about to be sick as he set down his sword.

I put mine next to him and whispered, "Are you okay?"

He nodded though the look on his face wasn't very convincing.

We followed Chiron to the big house. He opened the door and led us into the small living room where he offered us a seat.

Adam and I collapsed gratefully into the armchairs though Adam looked tense and rigid instead of tired like I did.

"Adam consulted the Oracle last night and asked for a quest. He was granted one but in the prophecy it stated that one other must accompany him. Despite the fact that you have only been here three weeks time, he requested that you, Riley, accompany him on his quest." Chiron said.

I wish I could tell you I took it well. Instead I said all at once, "A quest? Why me? I've only been here three weeks and I haven't had much training! Besides, I'd just slow him down and probably end up dying! Why me? I didn't sign up for a quest! Why doesn't he chose someone else?"

"Of course, you may stay at Camp Half-Blood if you wish." Chiron assured me.

I looked at Adam. He looked, well, terrible. As if someone had died. Or as if I had just… crushed his spirits. Or told him I didn't want to be friends anymore.

I couldn't take it. He probably thought I was a complete letdown! "No, I'll… I'll go. I just… didn't expect this to happen. Yet."

Adam looked at me with his amazing blue eyes. He looked kind of confused, still hurt, but kind of grateful.

"Then you are granted the quest as well." Chiron said. "Of course you need one other. In two day's time I will tell you who will be accompanying you two. Thank you for your time."

Adam and I got up and headed outside. He walked at a quickened pace as if he were trying to get away from me.

"Adam, what's the matter?" I asked, catching up to him. He didn't look at me.

"You said if I were offered a quest, you'd go with me."

"But I am going! I said I was!"

"Whatever." He picked up his sword and put it away. In a flash, he was sprinting out of the arena, almost a blur.

I sighed and picked up my sword. I headed to the weapon room and put my sword on the wall. Adam was a little strange. No, unpredictable was the right word. I hoped he'd forget about it in a few day's time.

The next day, I decided to try to approach Adam again. I managed to catch up to him before I headed to archery.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi." He sounded a little more himself but he didn't look at me.

"Um… where are you headed?"

"My cabin."

"Oh… Well, look. I didn't mean to… make you angry or anything, okay? I'm sorry."

He sighed, stopped walking and turned to face me. "What are you trying to do?"

"Uh… apologize?" I felt my face burn and I wanted to run away. The look he was giving me looked like he really couldn't care less about what I had to say. I hated that look.

"You're going to be late for archery. I'll be on Zeus's fist during free time, though." he proceeded on heading to his cabin.

I guess he forgave me, then. I looked at my watch. Adam was right; I was already a few minutes late for archery so I ran over to the course, hiding in the back so maybe Chiron wouldn't notice that I hadn't been there for some of his instructions.

I met Adam at Zeus's fist. He was sitting with his back facing me, looking up at the sky.

"Would you mind giving me a hand?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled slightly. "Sure." He sounded like his usual self now: carefree, mysterious, and kind.

He crouched on the rock and stretched out his hand. I put my foot in an indent and took his hand, feeling a tingling feeling in my fingers. He helped pull me up and I clambered onto the top of the rock, dusting myself off.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he replied, his eyes now back on the sky. "Hey... I shouldn't have gotten mad at you earlier."

"It's okay." I said.

"It was stupid of me to think you wouldn't keep your promise... but... you are still going, right, Riley?" He looked at me like he couldn't do it without me. Like he didn't want to be alone.

"For sure." I replied.

"Are we friends again?"

"Of course." I smiled at him and the corners of his soft-looking lips lifted up. "We find out tomorrow who else is going."

"Yeah. Whoever it is, they'd better not be from the Ares cabin." Adam grimaced.

"No kidding." I agreed.

"Are you nervous about the quest?" he asked me.

I paused. Now that I thought about it, I actually was pretty nervous. I answered, "Yeah… I guess I am. I mean, I don't want to die during my first year at camp. And… you know, I haven't had much experience with the 'real world' so… yeah."

"You'll be fine." He assured me.

"I also don't want to slow you down or anything. I mean, I can't believe you wanted to go with _me. _I'll probably just be a disadvantage. I could get all of us killed or something."

"Don't say that!" he told me, looking intently into my eyes. He actually took my hand. "We'll all be fine. You'll do just great and…"

"What?" I felt my heart beat faster and faster every second. I was afraid my hand would get all sweaty or something and he'd let go. I didn't want him to.

"I'll make sure I'm always with you."

I blushed and smiled shyly. Nobody had EVER said anything like that to me before. It made me feel really good.

"You look as if that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to you." He observed.

"It is." I admitted.

"I like your blush." He said. That was a little random, but it made me turn even redder. "It's cute."

I thought I was about to spread wings and take flight. Adam thought I, Riley Jay Bloom of all people was cute.

"Thanks," I told him.

He checked his watch. "We'd better get going. Do you know where we're headed next?"

No! Say something else romantic! We can't leave yet! I wanted to scream but then I realized he had asked me a question. "Oh! Right… uh, no idea."

He smiled as though he knew what I was feeling. "That's okay. We'll check."

We did. I headed to canoeing with the Apollo cabin and Adam headed to the forgery for blacksmith.

For the rest of the day, I was brimming with happiness.

When I got to my cabin before dinner, something was lying on my bed. It was a ballpoint pen with a note attached to it. I read the note first, wondering who on earth would want to send me a pen.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The note said:

Riley,

Just to let you know, you have never met me and you have no idea who I am. I'm your brother, Percy Jackson. I left camp last year with our brother Tyson. I heard from Dad that you are going on a quest. This pen is for you. It's called Riptide and I'm sure it'll serve you well. I've went on a lot of adventures with it. Tell Adam I say hi. Best of luck on your quest! IM me whenever you like. I'd like to talk to you sometime. I'll most likely be at school.

-Percy

Okay... either my brother was really weird or this pen just wasn't a normal pen. I uncapped it and almost dropped it when it turned into a sword with a green hilt that looked as though it were made on the ocean floor and a bronze blade that glinted when it caught the light.

Whoa. So my brother was sane after all. And this definitely wasn't a normal pen. I couldn't stop staring at it. Numbly I capped it and watched it turn quickly into pen form and then sat down on my bed. My brother had given me _his_ sword. How cool was that?

I grabbed a real pen and wrote a message on the back of Percy's note.

Percy,

I got the note and the gift. Thanks a bunch! It'll be a big help when I'm on my quest. Any advice? I'm pretty nervous about it. I'll tell Adam you say hi. I would like to talk you some time so I'll try and send you an Iris Message. Have fun at school. It was nice finding out who you are.

From, Riley

So maybe there was more than one person in the world who didn't hate me. I took the message to the Big House and asked Chiron if he could mail it for me.

Then, as the gong rang, I headed to the pavilion. I caught up to Adam who was looking thoroughly annoyed with his sister who had already sped off towards the lineup.

"Percy says hi," I told him.

Adam's eyes lit up immediately. "Did he IM you? Where is he?"

"He sent me a note. And his sword." I replied.

"His sword? Lucky." Adam stated. "You're brother was the coolest."

I smiled. "See you later." I headed to my lineup and began with the tradition of offering my food to the gods.

After dinner, Adam and I practiced some sword fighting so I could get used to using Riptide. This time, his sister Macy watched from the stands of the arena.

The sky was darkening and we were sweating hard but that didn't stop us. I pushed as hard as I can, willing myself not to lose. Every time our swords clashed, Adam's muscles flexed and I almost couldn't concentrate on the sword fight.

Every once and a while, Macy would call, "Go Adam!" or "Go Riley!" causing Adam to look more annoyed each time she shouted.

Eventually, when almost every last ounce of my strength was drained out of my body, I used a technique I had been practicing and knocked his sword out of his hands. It clattered on the ground and Adam's eyebrows raised in amazement.

"Whoa." I said.

"Whoa..." Adam agreed.

"Did I just beat you?" I asked.

"I think so. That was really, really good!" he told me, giving me a high five.

"Thanks." I handed him his sword and capped mine. It turned back into a ballpoint pen and I stuck it in my pocket.

"Good job!" Macy exclaimed, catching up to us and holding onto Adam's hand.

I could tell he was really embarrassed.

"No one's ever beat Adam before. Adam's the best at sword fighting. One day he's gonna teach me, right Adam?" she grinned widely.

I almost couldn't contain my laughter.

"Sure, Macy." Adam rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. He muttered to me, "I'm not _that_ great."

I smiled.

Macy swung Adam's arm and started to skip to the camp fire.

"Macy, cut it out! I need to take a shower!" he yanked his arm out of her grasp.

She looked a little bit hurt. Adam ruffled her hair. "We'll be here later."

"Okay!" she grinned again.

I went with him to the showers. Before he headed into the men's room he said, "She is _so _ embarrassing!"

"She's cute! She just looks up to you." I said, pushing the door of the ladies room open.

Adam grimaced and I laughed.

After I had showered, I dried myself off and changed back into my clothes. Adam was there waiting for me. His hair was kind curly when it was wet and I loved it.

He flattened his hair down as I came out.

"Is your hair always curly when it's wet?" I asked, tossing it around.

"Yeah. It looks really stupid." He blushed.

"I love it! It's so cute!"

He gave me a little grin.

"I'll race you there!" I took off but of course, Adam passed me within seconds and beat me by about a mile to the camp fire.

"I win." He said proudly. I just grinned and sat down next to him.

"Whatever. I won the sword fight." I grinned, punching him jokingly on the shoulder.

The next day was long and very, very hot. Adam and I were playing volleyball during our free time period under the glare of the scorching sun.

"I wish I could ask Apollo to turn down the heat!" I panted as I bumped the ball over the net.

"No kidding. It's like… a million degrees out here!" Adam agreed, spiking it over the net and over my head as well.

I went to get the ball and came back.

"Hold on," Adam said. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I would have played it over a thousand times. He peeled off his shirt and tossed it onto the grass. He flicked his bangs out of his face. He was ripped, man! He had a six pack, and biceps, and triceps, and abs, and… wow. I actually dropped the ball, just staring at him until I noticed he looked a little uncomfortable.

"Earth to Riley!" he said, waving his muscular arms.

I came back to my senses and turned dark red, picking up the ball and rolling it under the net so he could serve.

He threw the ball strait up in the air and jumped up, hitting it with his fist and sending it flying over the net.

I barely managed to bump it back to him.

Eventually we were too hot so both of us quit and flopped down on the grass.

"Good game." I panted, wiping my forehead.

"You, too." He replied.

His chest moved up and down as he panted. I shaded my face with my arm so he wouldn't notice me staring at him and closed my eyes; feeling exhausted all of a sudden.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "You're a tough opponent."

He laughed. "You aren't too bad yourself. Did you play sports at your school?"

"No." I answered. "I was too nervous. People always made fun of me so I didn't think I'd ever make it."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'd have been really good if you had tried!" he said. "We should practice and maybe next year you can try out." He said eagerly.

"That'd be nice but… I'll probably receive an expulsion letter pretty soon. I kind of ran away during school." I told him.

"Really?" he sounded kind of surprised, as if I weren't the kind of person to be expelled. "Where will you go next?"

"I guess whereever my mom sends me." I shrugged.

"Oh." He was silent for a minute. "Where do you live?"

"Philadelphia."

"Cool. I live in New York."

"How come you were on the bus that was heading _to_ New York, then?" I asked him, rolling over to lie on my stomach. He did the same.

"I was out of town." He replied, looking away for a second.

Something about that sounded mysterious for some reason.

Just then the lunch bell rang. Adam jumped to his feet and then gave me a hand up. He took his shirt and put it back on, running a hand through his hair after he did so.

I wished he could have stayed shirtless the rest of the day. That would have been nice.

We headed to the pavilion together and then departed at our lines.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

At seven o'clock, Chiron told Adam and I to come to the big house.

He and I exchanged glances. We were about to find out who was going to accompany us on our quest.

We were seated in the big house waiting for Chiron to return with our other companion when I asked, "Adam, do you know what this quest is about?"

"Yeah." He replied. "We're supposed to save one of the goddesses from Theseus."

"That's funny. What's it really about?" I asked. Yeah right, Theseus was a villain?

"I'm serious. The legends say that Theseus was a hero, a doer of good deeds. That's all wrong. Theseus is a stuck up, evil, malicious brat. And he's really stupid, too. We're supposed to save Electra from his evil lair." Adam insisted.

"Why does Greek Mythology have to be so confusing?" I asked. "If Theseus is really a bad guy, what happened in his legend?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Adam shrugged.

"I thought you knew all that stuff." I said.

Just then, Chiron opened the door and a tall boy around fifteen or so with brown hair and brown eyes stepped into the room.

"Riley, Adam, meet Justin McDonald." Chiron said.

Justin smiled good-naturedly. "Hi," he said.

"Hey," I replied.

"What's up?" Adam said.

"Justin is from the Hermes cabin. He will be accompanying you on your quest to rescue the goddess Electra from Theseus." Chiron said. "Mr. D and I have both agreed that you leave in five days. I recommend you get as much training done as you can."

"Thank you," the three of us said.

Chiron nodded once in reply. "I will leave you three for the time being. Remember to be at the bonfire by nine o'clock." And with that he clip clopped out of the big house.

"So… which cabins are you guys in again?" Justin asked.

"Zeus." Adam replied.

"Poseidon." I answered.

"Sweet. Hey, Adam, is your sister Macy?" he asked.

Adam looked as though he knew he were about to be totally embarrassed. "Yes, why?"

"She fell into Long Island Sound."

His eyebrows raised.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I pulled her out. She was in hysterics." Justin grinned.

"That's Macy for you." Adam said. "Thanks for pulling her out."

"No problem, man." He replied. "Riley, I saw you training the arena on Wednesday. You're really good." Justin gave me the kind of flirtatious grin that Apollo had given me when we were introduced to each other.

"Uh- thanks." I said.

I glanced over at Adam when Justin wasn't looking. He looked like he wanted to compete with him. As if he could compliment me way better.

I hoped I wasn't in a situation where I had to guys fighting over me. That would be _really _awkward especially since I would be spending how long on a dangerous quest where I would probably need to be protected by someone.

"I'll fight you." Justin said to me.

"What?" I asked, hoping he didn't mean a fist fight.

"A sword fight. You up for it?"

"Oh- uh… sure, I guess. I'll get my sword." I stood up.

"I'll watch." Adam said rather grumpily. I could tell he really didn't like Justin so far.

"I'll meet you guys there." Justin jogged off towards the arena.

"I don't like him." Adam said as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Come on, Adam, he's just being nice." I said, heading to my cabin. Adam stayed with me.

"He's hitting on you!"

"Does that make you jealous?" I grinned.

He glared at the ground. "No. It's just annoying."

"Oooh… okay." I said sarcastically as I took Riptide from under my pillow.

"I'm not jealous! I don't like you in that way, okay?" he almost sounded angry.

"I'm sorry," I 'accidentally' bumped my hand against his as we headed to the arena. I did it again he kind of entwined his fingers around mine. Hopefully that would cheer him up.

"If you give me a head start, I'll race you there." I offered.

"No way!" Adam let go of my hand and sprinted to the arena entrance. I sprinted after him but knew I could never catch up.

"I win," Adam grinned.

"You always do." I shrugged.

Justin emerged from the armour room with a broad smile on his face and a fine looking sword in his hands.

I uncapped riptide and kept it's lid in my pocket.

Adam sat down in one of the stands, watching Justin's every move.

"Should I take it easy on you?" he asked, a teasing grin on his face. I liked Adam's teasing look better. It looked more teasing than mischievous.

"No thanks," I replied.

We got in the ready stance and then on his mark, we began.

I wasn't used to sparring with someone other than Adam. Justin's techniques were different. Some more advanced and some slower and more easy to block. A few times, I almost had my sword knocked out of my hands. I kept my balance and posture just like Adam had taught me. I pushed him and used a hard blow. He blocked it and our swords clashed loudly.

He looked very concentrated and his brown eyes seemed to penetrate through me. It kind of made me uncomfortable but I maintained a strait, unreadable face. I couldn't show the enemy fear.

In a swift, hard slash, he captured my sword.

"Good job," he said, breathing heavily.

"Thanks, you too." I replied. He handed me my sword and I capped it again and stuck it into my pocket.

"Cool sword. Where'd you get it?" Justin asked.

"It used to belong to my brother Percy." I answered.

"Oh! He's the one who went on the quest to the underworld."

I nodded.

Adam came over. "Good try," he said to me.

"Thanks." I said. When he didn't say anything more, I nudged him.

"Good job, Justin." He said dully.

"Thank you," Justin smiled.

Adam was being really ignorant and stubborn and I didn't like it one bit.

"I'd better get back to my cabin. We should do some training some time. How about tomorrow during free period?" Justin suggested.

"In your dreams." Adam muttered. I treaded over his foot.

"Sounds great. See you, Justin." I said, smiling.

"See you guys," Justin replied. He went off to his cabin.

Adam glared after him.

I sighed. "Adam… would it be too much to ask for you to pretend to like him?"

"Yes." He snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go to Zeus's fist." I suggested. I kind of felt like it was our place now. Where we could be alone and just talk.

"Fine." He said just as irritably.

He sulked along with me as we walked to Zeus's fist. The sun had already set and it was darkening.

"Um… maybe we shouldn't." I said, afraid that we might get lost or something.

"It's okay. I know the forest by the back of my hand." Adam assured me. He sounded a bit happier to have the chance to flirt with me.

"Are you sure?" I asked nervously.

"Positive," the look in his eyes was really convincing.

"Okay… but it's your fault if we get lost and eaten up by some evil monster." I told him.

"Sounds good."

I held onto his arm. I felt safer with him close beside me.

"Here we are," he said after a few minutes. "Do you want me to climb up first?" he asked.

"No! Don't leave me down here." I said.

"I won't leave you, Riley. It's okay." He soothed me.

He took hold of my waist and lifted me up. I clambered onto the rock and waited for him to get up.

He dropped from the tree branch and landed right next to me.

I moved a little closer so that my shoulder was pressed against his.

"It's warm." I said.

"Yeah. I love warm nights. Especially when you're camping and your by the fire and you don't need a sweater or anything. You can just sit there in shorts and a t shirt, bare foot and not worry about freezing to death."

"I like that, too. I love to go camping. Me and my mom used to do it all the time. But then she got a job because she had to pay for our apartment. We don't usually go anywhere together. And she sent me to Horace Green so… I barely got to see her anymore."

"I didn't really see my mom, either. We weren't really that close. I wish we were… she's out a lot because she has a busy job so… I take care of Macy all the time. It can get kind of lonely sometimes."

"I know. Sometimes you need someone to talk to who knows exactly how you feel."

"Exactly!" Adam agreed. "I had a few friends at school but… you know… guys aren't usually the kind of people who sit down and talk about stuff. You know what I mean?"

"Totally. I didn't have any friends to talk to. I got really lonely all the time. But… now I've got you and I can always count on you for a good talk." I smiled up at him and he returned my smile with a cute lopsided one of his own. "You know… when I first saw you on the bus I thought you were kind of weird. I mean you stared at me as if I were something in a museum and as soon as we got of the bus you sprinted away!"

"Sorry. Did I make you feel uncomfortable or anything?" he apologized.

"No, it's fine. I just think it's weird because about four weeks ago we were complete strangers to each other and now we're like… best friends." I explained.

"Yeah… it's cool. Do you like being best friends with me?" he asked.

"Of course! If I didn't I would say so."

"No you wouldn't." he told me.

"Okay, I wouldn't _say_ so but you'd be able to tell. I love being best friends with you." I assured him.

"Good. So do I."

"Thanks."

"We should probably get going, huh?" Adam started to climb off of the rock.

I followed him and landed in a crouch. Brushing myself off, I stood up and joined him on our way to the bonfire.

"You aren't scared any more, are you?" Adam asked.

"No. I'm not. I guess when I get my mind off it; I'm not scared of it anymore." I said.

"Are you scared about the quest?"

My insides squirmed. "Yes. What if I don't make it back alive?"

"Don't think like that, Riley. You'll make it back for sure. I'll be there for you all the time, okay?"

"Thanks, Adam. That helps. But… I still don't know what to expect."

"Neither do I. But don't worry, we'll have lots of time to train and prepare. We'll be fine." Adam guaranteed me.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Two days later, Justin was being even friendlier and Adam was hating him a whole lot more. After dinner he was telling me about how he had gotten to Camp Half-Blood. So far he barely escaped a Hellhound, had his bus blown up and gotten lost in an alleyway in New York.

I tried to listen intently but I knew Justin was telling a more heroic version of the story.

Adam was sitting there looking extremely bored, ripping pieces of grass out of the ground. I gave him a sympathetic look as Justin went on about his adventure.

"That sounds really exciting." I said before he could start another story. "Uh, if you don't mind, Adam and I were going to uh… go swimming."

"I'd love to join you but swimming definitely isn't one of my strengths." He said.

"Bummer." Adam said although he looked happier than ever.

"See you guys later." He said.

"Bye," I said as we headed to our cabins.

"Riley," Adam said.

"Yeah?"  
"I can't swim very well."

"That's okay. I can teach you. We don't have to go too far out, either." I assured him as I headed into my cabin to get changed.

"Uh… okay." He looked a little nervous.

I closed all the windows and locked the door and got undressed. I put on my bikini and pulled a pair of board shorts as well and then grabbed a towel.

I waited outside his cabin door.

"Hey. Oh- hey." He noticed I was wearing a bikini.

I felt again as thought I were about to faint. He was SO BUFF!

"Come on," I led him down to the waterfront. I dipped my toe in. Immediately, all my emotions were washed away and I could focus on nothing else but submerging into the cool water of Long Island Sound.

"It's freezing!" Adam hissed.

"Maybe I can make it warmer…" I concentrated hard and asked the water silently to become warmer. "Is that better?"

He stepped in again. "Yeah! How did you do that?"

"Well, I am a daughter of Poseidon." I shrugged. I was now waist deep. I got deeper and deeper and then went under water. I opened my eyes. I could see perfectly. Small fish darted about. The rocks on the bottom sat peacefully as the last rays of sun shone on them.

I saw Adam still only knee deep. I laughed and to my surprised, didn't end up choking and spluttering on water. I tried a really small breath. No choking. I tried a bigger breath and then an even bigger breath. Then a huge one. I could breathe under water. How cool was that?

I pushed up onto the surface.

Adam raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You aren't wet."

"And I can breathe under water!" I said excitedly.

"Can you teach me how to swim?"

"Probably. Just come deeper." I told him.

He slowly stepped towards me. His stomach sucked in from the cold. He stopped when the water was up to his ribs.

"Come on," I prompted, holding out my hand. I was on my tiptoes with my chin bobbing in and out of the water. He took my hand and I pulled him closer to me. "See, it's not so bad!"

"I guess not." He shrugged.

He stepped further until he was right in front of me. The water was only up to his shoulders now.

"Come on," I kicked my legs slowly backwards. Our hands stretched apart. "Come on, Adam! It isn't bad at all! Just go under water and you'll be fine."

"Fine." He said.

I counted to three and then we both went under the surface. He still was holding my hand. He looked hilarious with his eyes squeezed shut and his cheeks bulging with air. I giggled. He pushed up and went to the surface.

I followed him.

"See. That wasn't bad, was it?" I asked.

"No… it wasn't." he admitted.

"Let's go deeper!" I began to swim quickly farther out.

He followed me cautiously, kicking his legs and using his arms.

I went under water and swam deeper and deeper. I wanted to touch the bottom. I breathed in and out steadily. I didn't feel any pressure or anything. It all felt the same to me. As though I were floating peacefully through space. I touched the bottom and something caught my eye. A small white shiny thing stuck out from in between a few rocks. It was a pearl. I picked it up and then swam up to the top.

Adam was still there, treading water and looking nervously.

It was getting dark now.

"We should probably get back." He said.

"Not yet. Look what I found." I held the pearl in my palm.

"Whoa… a pearl. You could sell it and get a bunch of cash."

"Or I could give it to you."

"Yeah, you could." He nodded.

I smiled and handed it to him. He looked at it. "It's really beautiful."

"Yeah… my mom wore pearls in one of her pictures. She was with a man. I asked her but she never told me who it was. I always take the picture with me. The man has my eyes. They're green." I said softly.

"I bet it was your dad. Poseidon."

"Yeah… you're probably right." I agreed. "You know what I used to do when I went on vacation with my mom?"

"What?"

"Every night we'd go for a swim in the ocean. We'd float on our back and look at the stars. It was rally nice."

I floated on my back and gazed up at the stretch of black sky dotted with silver stars everywhere.

"See that constellation?" Adam asked. He was floating on his back as well. He pointed at the sky and traced the stars with his finger.

"The one that looks like someone fingering a rhino?" I asked.

Adam laughed. "Yeah, that one. If you look at it at the right angle, it looks like a girl holding out here hand. It's Demeter. She went to the ends of the world for a mortal she loved."

"How nice of her!" I said. I'd go to the ends of the world for Adam. I thought of saying that but decided the better of it.

"The one next to her is Atlanta. She was a really beautiful hero who fell in love with a mortal man. He left her, though, and she died of a broken heart and her constellation is her piercing a heart with a bow and arrow."

"Do all Greek love stories have to end so tragically?" I asked.

"No… not all of them." He looked at me with a glint in his eyes.

I smiled.

After a few more minutes, I said, "I'll race you to the dock."

I swam as hard as I could, using my arms and my legs. I heaved myself onto the dock. I as dry as I was before I had come out of the water.

Adam clambered onto the dock a few seconds later.

"I'm faster than you in the water."

"Yeah, well I can beat to the cabins." He grinned, jumping up and sprinting across the dock, onto the beach, and out of sight on his way to the cabins.

I grinned, took our towels and ran after him.

I looped the towel around his neck and pulled him towards me.

He turned around and moved in closer so that his chest was touching mine.

"I guess we're even now?"

"Yeah, we are." I nodded, aware of how close we were. I let go of the towel and left it around his neck. His hair was starting to get curly.

"See you in a few." I headed into my cabin.

The next day, Justin, Adam and I were racing up the almost life sized volcano that shot of real spurts of lava as you tried to make it to the top. Of course, Adam was the first to the top. He grabbed a rope and climbed back down nimbly.

Justin passed me as my t-shirt got singed and I came in third, grabbing onto a rope and almost dropping down the huge mountain side.

I collapsed onto the ground, panting hard.

"I don't know… how you guys… can get up there… so easily." I said, my eyes closed.

"Practice." Both boys said in unison.

Adam held out a hand to help me up but Justin beat him to it. I received his hand and stood up. Adam now had his competitive look on his face.

"Let's get a drink." I suggested. I headed to the cooler and took out three cans of coke. I tossed one to each of the guys and then uncapped mine. I ripped off the cap and stuck it in my pocket for my collection.

"Do you collect those?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "It's kind of little kid-ish but I started when I was seven and I never stopped.

"I used to collect shark teeth." He said.

"Oh, neat." I remarked.

"I collect pocket knives." Adam said almost challengingly.

"How many do you have?" Justin asked.

"Almost seventy-five." He replied. "All sharp and ready to go."

"Oh… that's kind of… emo." Justin frowned.

I laughed. "That's funny, Adam." I patted him on the arm hard. "Boy, does Adam love to joke. He doesn't actually have seventy-five, do you?"

"No. I was kidding." Adam said through clenched teeth.

"You got me there," Justin grinned.

Adam gave him a very forced smile.

"I think Adam and I have stable duty. We'll check and be right back." I lied, taking Adam firmly by the arm and leading him at a quick paste to the pavilion where the chores were listed.

"Adam. Pretend to be looking at the schedule."

"Okay."

"What are you DOING?" I hissed. "You're embarrassing me! You're being horrible to him!"

"No I'm not." He replied indignantly.

"Seriously, Adam. It's bugging me. I really don't want to get mad at you so unless you want to see me lose my temper on you, start acting nice."

"You're not my mother." He snarled.

I pretended to point at something on the schedule. "You're right. Go ahead and treat Justin however you want. But if I were you, I'd start looking for someone else to go on the quest."

I turned on my heel and marched back to Justin.

"False alarm." I put my happy attitude back on. "I'd better start thinking of what I'm going to pack for the quest. It's in two days."

"Sounds good," Justin smiled.

"I'll see you later."

"See you." He replied.

Adam stalked past him without saying anything and headed into the forest.

As soon as I closed the door to my cabin, I pulled my hair in anger. Ugh! Adam was being such a jerk! I hated him right now. Honestly. If I didn't like him so much, I'd start flirting with Justin. Right now, I wished I didn't like Adam. I didn't care if I spent the rest of my life without talking to him.

I lay down on my bed and though about what I had said to him. If Adam didn't start treating Justin better, would I really not go on the quest with them? If I had no choice, what would happen?

I rolled over and closed my eyes. Maybe I should get my mind off it. I hated being mad. I hated being mad at Adam the most. Every time I said something snappy to him, I was reminded of the look he had given me when Chiron told us we were going on a quest.

I remembered I was supposed to be helping set up dinner so I headed out to the pavilion and setting up plates, cups, and cutlery.

One day left before the quest. The whole day I had been practicing sword fighting, archery, and running up the volcano since Adam was nowhere to be found. I thought of it as a good thing. I was mad at Adam, anyways.

"Here, try holding the sword like this. You look a bit uncomfortable." Justin suggested half an hour after we had started sparring. He put his right hand overt op of mine and shifted it a bit.

"Any better?" he asked, letting go of my hand.

"Yeah, thanks." I replied.

"You know that one kid Brutus from the Ares cabin?" Justin asked as we continued to spar.

"Yeah."

"He looks like a waddling duck when he uses a sword."

I laughed so hard I dropped my sword. Justin picked it up.

"I win!" he grinned.

I just kept on laughing.

"Come on, let's get some drinks." Justin said. He tried to walk like a duck all the way to the cooler.

I laughed even more. "Oh my gosh; you're hilarious, Justin!" I giggled.

He shrugged modestly. "That's what _all _the ladies say."

After dinner, I decided to get a good view of the sunset.

I was sitting underneath the huge pine tree that protected the camp borders wishing I were on top of Zeus's fist.

I twirled Riptide in its pen form in my fingers, feeling nervous waves crash against my stomach. I tried not to think about it. I concentrated on a butterfly that had rested on a flower. I felt butterflies flutter around inside of me.

I heard someone approach me and looked up. It was Adam. He was wearing a pair of black strait-leg jeans, a loose red-orange polo shirt, and a pair of black Vans shoes.

I drew my knees in. "Oh. It's you." I said coolly.

"Hi." He stuck his hands in his pockets a little nervously and scuffed the ground with his foot. "If I said I was sorry, would you forgive me?"

"Maybe." I said, trying not to show any emotions in the look I was giving him.

"Well, I'm sorry. I'm a jerk." He said.

I half smiled. "Yeah, you are a jerk. But… I forgive you."

He smiled. "We should start over. If… you want to."

"I do."

He sat down across from me and picked a flower from the grass. He began to tear the stem, pulling one strip off at a time. "Pink is a nice colour on you," he remarked, nodding at my shirt.

"Thanks," I said, blushing. "You don't actually have seventy five pocket knives, do you?"  
He grinned. "No. Only seven."

"Oh… good." I said. "Hey, I don't mean to bring this up again but… you are going to try to be nice to Justin, right?"

He drew in a breath. "Yeah. I'm gonna try. But only for you. I don't like him at all."

"I know. I'm sorry I'm being such a pain." I apologized. He was doing it only for me!

"You aren't being a pain. You're being a good friend." He assured me, picking the small petals off his flower.

"Thanks," I smiled at him. "You know… you might like him after the quest."

"Maybe…" Adam said vaguely. I didn't think he was paying much attention. I moved closer to him.

"You know I don't like him or anything, right?"

"You were being pretty friendly when you were training together." He said, looking me in the eyes.

"You were watching?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Well just because I was being friendly doesn't mean I like him, okay? Don't be jealous." I teased him.

"I'm not." He assured me.

"You sure?"

"I just… don't want him to be too friendly with you. I feel kind of protective of you."

He hadn't answered! Maybe he liked me! Maybe he _was_ jealous! And he felt protective of me!

"Why?" I felt butterflies jump around in my stomach.

"I dunno… I don't really have a reason."

"Well I'm sure I'll need a lot of protection on the quest."

He brushed a few strands of hair out of my face.

I smiled at him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After dinner, I packed what I needed; money, the picture of my mom and dad, a spare change of clothes, Riptide, and some nectar and ambrosia that Justin had managed to swipe from the big house. It could be useful having a son of the god of thieves coming along on the quest.

I looked in the mirror and stared at my reflection. I saw a slim girl, five feet and six inches tall, bright green eyes with specks of silver, a ski jump nose, a few freckles, brown hair that reached just past her shoulders wearing a pink fitted t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts and old brown Converse sneakers. I was plain. Normal. And I was living a completely abnormal life.

I zipped up my backpack and set it beside my cabin door.

I had a strong feeling that maybe after the quest, Adam wouldn't mind Justin so much. Underneath all his boasting and heroic tales, he was really nice guy. Maybe he just wanted to fit in, like I had wanted to when I went to Horace Green.

I wanted to go to Zeus's fist one last time before I left. Maybe Adam would join me. I pulled on a hoodie and stepped outside.

"Hey," Adam was right at my side.

"Hi. I was hoping you'd come." I smiled.

"It'll probably be our last time before we leave."

"That's what I was thinking."

We walked across the huge field where only a few campers were gathered. I held onto his arm again. I wasn't afraid this time but I felt like I needed to hold onto him.

All the training had paid off; I could now lift myself onto Zeus's fist. Adam raised his eyebrows.

"Have you been working out?" he joked.

I thought of some good comeback but all I could think of was, "No."

He laughed and climbed up his tree, walking down the branch at ease and hopping onto the huge rock beside me.

"This is like our spot. It's like… no one ever comes here but us." I said.

"We're probably the only ones who can get to the top." Adam pointed out.

I smiled. I liked coming here with Adam and talking to him. It felt so good to finally have a friend to talk to. Even if it was a guy. I felt like I could be completely honest with him all the time.

"I'm really starting to get nervous about the quest." I told him.

"Don't be. Think of it as a vacation or something."

I laughed. "Yeah, a vacation where I might end up dead."

"You won't die. I'm sure of that. Seriously, Riley, I've seen you train. I've trained with you. You're an amazing sword fighter and your really agile, too. You've got to have more self confidence."

"You're right. How's this: I'm going to do fantastic on this quest because I am good at sword fighting and stuff and I have someone to protect me."

Adam laughed. "That's a start." He put his arm around me. "Don't think about it. If you get your mind off of it, you won't be scared, right?"

"Right, but what could get my mind of this?" I asked.

He thought. "I'll have to think about that."

I smiled. "It's nice of you to try."

What could have been any other Monday morning was turned into a surreal one. I met Adam and Justin at the borders of Camp Half-Blood with my slung over one shoulder. Adam looked tired and in deep thought while Justin had a big smile on his face and was telling me the real story about Theseus. I didn't tell him that Adam had already told me.

Chiron approached us. "I wish you very good luck. Before you leave, you will probably need this." He handed us each a Ziploc bag full of nectar squares and ambrosia cookies. Great, extras! Also, he gave us a sack of golden drachmas (Greek currency) and a map of the United States. "I would also like to inform you that Theseus's lair is located in Florida. Argus will drive you to the Trenton Subway Station in Pennsylvania. From there, it's up to you three. Good luck and may the gods be with you."

"Thank you," we replied.

Chiron gave us one last smile before we met the many eyed security guard at Camp Half-blood, Argus. We opened the door of the white Camp Half-blood van and I stepped in first, taking a last look around camp before sitting down in one of the seats. Adam hurried past Justin and sat beside me first, giving me a reassuring smile that made my heart start to beat a little faster.

Justin sat in the passenger seat and Argus took off.

I looked out the window until I could no longer see the pine tree that protected the camp boundary.

I held onto my backpack, my knuckles white, and my hands shaking. I focused my eyes on the zipper so I wouldn't begin any of my nervous habits (i.e. cracking my knuckles, talking non-stop and humming to myself.)

Argus turned on the radio and in an awkward/nervous silence; we listened to Back in Black by AC/DC.

I sang in my head (I don't know how that works but it did) and managed to calm my nerves down.

Adam tapped his fingers on the arm rest to the beat. I wanted to hold his hand so badly. The one that wasn't tapping was resting on one knee. I could easily just slip my fingers through his. It would make me feel so much better. I slowly inched my hand toward his. He must have noticed because he took it comfortingly and didn't let go for a long time.

Eventually Argus pulled up on the side of the road next to the subway station. "You have money?" he asked in his gruff voice.

"Yep," Justin replied, his voice higher than usual with nervousness.

"Good luck, half-bloods." He said.

We thanked him for the ride and stepped out of the van. We closed the doors and he raced down the highway again.

"Should I go get tickets?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, thanks." I said.

He headed towards the ticket booth.

"How will we know where in Florida Theseus's lair is?" I asked Adam.

"We'll either be able to feel it, we'll be led into a trap, the gods will send us a dream, or we'll just happen to magically stumble upon it." He answered.

"So… you pretty much only know it's in Florida?" I asked.

"… Yeah." He admitted.

"Okay, well, it can't be too hard. I mean, Florida isn't _that_ big and… I'm sure it'll be pretty obvious." I tried to be optimistic.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right." Adam agreed, trying to believe me.

A few minutes later, Justin came back with three tickets. He handed Adam and I one each. "I also managed to steal some coupons for Burger King. Buy one Flaming Whopper combo get one free!"

"You stole the tickets?" I asked in disbelief.

"Ssh!" Justin warned.

"And some guy's coupons?"

"Hey, they were sitting right next to him and he barely paid any attention when I used the machine thingy. He must have thought I worked there or something." He shrugged.

"I guess it might be useful to have you along." Adam said.

Justin opened his mouth as if trying to decide whether that was a compliment or an insult.

"When does the subway leave?" I asked.

"Five minutes." Justin replied.

"Let's go then!" I grabbed my backpack and led the way down the stairs to the underground station.

It was almost empty except for a few guys smoking and a mother who was leading her child away from the smoking dudes.

I got a weird feeling. This place didn't smell like a normal subway station. "Is it just me or does this place give you the creeps?" I said quietly.

"It isn't just you. I can smell the monsters." Justin grimaced.

"Most subway stations don't smell as bad. New York has more monsters than really any other state in the U.S." Adam told me.

"Oh. That must be it." I said.

Just then, the subway screeched to a stop and let out a few teenagers, two more gangster like guys who joined the smoking dudes, and a few older people, one, who I was almost positive was the secretary at Horace Green. I looked in her grey eyes and she smiled at me almost knowingly as though she knew what I was about to experience. Weird… I was surprised she didn't come marching up to me with a glare on her face with my expulsion letter in her hand.

I stepped onto the subway after Adam and Justin. Besides us, the mother and her child, the subway was empty. We sat in silence as we rattled along.

I felt strange. As though something or someone was watching me. It still smelled horrible. Like monsters. I suddenly had a flashback of me, five years old at least, sitting on the beach. I breathed in, expecting to smell sea water and fish and chips just like the beach I was used to, but instead I smelling something foul. I went and complained to my mom. Her eyes widened and she immediately started packing up our towels. Then I snapped back to reality. There had been a few times when I had smelled monsters and didn't know I would one day knew what it was.

"Wanna play cards?" Justin asked, taking a deck of cards from his backpack.

"Sure," Adam and I replied.

We sat on the floor of the subway and played Go-Fish for a few hours.

Justin won every time but I figured, since he was a son of Hermes, he was cheating somehow.

Two hours later, the subway screeched to a halt almost causing us to topple over each other as we waited for the doors to open.

I couldn't wait to be in the wide open again. Another thing you should know about me: If I don't get fresh air for a certain amount of time, I start to feel very cramped. I almost passed out at this one kid's farm when I was playing hide and go seek while hiding in a tunnel in their hayloft.

The doors slid open and gross, underground, smelly air brushed our faces. I led the way up the stairs into the wide open streets of Charleston, West Virginia. Cool air. People talking. Cars on the street. Much better.

"Okay… where to next?" Justin asked.

If we can get to Beckley by the end of the day, that would be great." Adam replied.

"We'd better get going. That's a long way." I said.

"I have an idea!" Justin said suddenly, getting a mischievous glint in his brown eyes.

"What?" Adam and I asked.

"Any of you know how to drive?" Justin grinned slyly.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Of course, I was completely against the idea of stealing someone's keys from their purse and taking their car all the way to Beckley, West Virginia but I found out that if Adam and Justin both agree on an idea, they won't let anyone say no.

After a very spirited debate, I found myself being dragged by the arms by Justin and Adam into a silver Mustang GT.

Unfortunately, the boys did not agree on who got to drive.

"I'm older than you." Justin said with authority.

"Yeah, by one year." Adam retorted.

"Well I have experience." Justin said.

"Have you ever driven a car?" Adam said as if that were the most unlikely thing in the world.

"Have _you_?"

"Yes. Of course I have! Tell him Riley."

"What?" I didn't want to be dragged into this.

"I've driven a car before, right?" Adam asked me.

"How am I supposed to know? I've only known you for about a month!"

"I should drive because I'm older, right?" Justin asked.

"Um… I dunno, should you?" I said uneasily.

"I got the keys!" Justin told Adam.

"Yeah, well… I found the car!" Adam said just as meanly.

"Hey, I have an idea!" I said. "How about _I_ drive?"

"No!" both of them exclaimed.

"Sorry for asking." I muttered, getting into the car and sitting in the back seat.

After a few more minutes of arguing, I realized something. "Hey boys." I said.

"What?" both of them almost yelled at me.

"You do realize that the owner of this car could very well come marching up to us at any second, right? And plus, Adam said we had to get to Beckley by the end of the day. It's already eleven o'clock." I told them.

"Fine. We'll switch halfway." Justin gave in.  
"I get to drive first." Adam glared, thrusting the car door open and jamming the keys into the ignition.

"I'm not sitting beside him." Justin whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes. I could have just stayed in the back with Justin but instead I climbed into the passenger seat. I knew there was no way Justin could calm Adam down. And I was pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

I buckled up as Adam pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"What if someone calls the police because we don't look like we're sixteen or over?" I asked.

"I look sixteen." Justin said quickly.

I examined him. "Yeah… maybe you could pass but what about Adam and I?"

"Of course I look sixteen. I get it from my grandma all the time." Adam said dismissively.

"Yeah well that's your _grandma_. My grandma thinks I'm twenty-four. How accurate is that? And plus, are you sure you know what you're doing? I'm kind of nervous letting my thirteen year old friend drive."

"Riley, I know perfectly well what I'm doing. My uncle gave me a few driving lessons once. Trust me, okay? And besides, the Mist will fool the mortals."

"The Mist?"

"It clouds mortals' vision so they're not actually seeing what they're seeing." Justin explained. "For example, if you swung a sword at them, they might think you were trying to hit them with a carrot."

"But what if they aren't fooled?"

"I'll handle that." Adam said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I guess I'm gonna have to trust you guys." I shrugged.

I turned on the radio.

"Ew! John Mayer!" Adam turned the station.

"I like John Mayer!" I said, turning it back. "That was a good song!"

"No! They were playing Aerosmith on the other one!" he argued, turning it back to the other one.

"Fine." I said, defeated.

As soon as the Aerosmith song was done (I loved Aerosmith but I didn't tell Adam that) I switched back to my station. It was now playing Coldplay.

"Am I allowed to listen to Coldplay, your majesty?" I asked Adam mockingly.

He rolled his eyes but I could tell he wasn't actually mad. "Yes, Coldplay is cool."

"Good." I smiled, turning it up.

"How about the All-American Rejects?" Justin asked from the back. "Are they cool?"  
"No, they suck." Adam replied.

Justin sat back in his seat, looking rather taken aback. "What about Green Day?"

"Better than the All-American Rejects." Adam replied.

"The Cure?"

"Brilliant. Best band in the world."

"U2?"

"Second best band in the world."

"Backstreet Boys?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me. Do you actually listen to them? That is _so_ gay!"

"I was kidding." Justin said.

"How is it gay?" I asked Adam.

"It just is." He replied curtly.

I gave him a look.

A few hours later, Justin made Adam pull over.

"We're half way now." Justin said.

"How do you know?" Adam asked.

"Because it says on the sign." Justin replied, pointing to the one right in front of us.

"Oh… yeah. That sign." Adam said. He took a really long time unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door.

Once Justin was starting to get really annoyed, Adam climbed into the back seat.

Justin started up the car and flew down the road at top speed.

"What. Are. You. Doing!" I asked, clutching onto the sides of my seat for dear life.

"Driving." He replied as if going down a crowded highway at 160 miles/hour was normal.

"What about traffic?"

"We'll manage." He swerved in and out of lanes. Surprisingly no one seemed to notice.

"That's probably the Mist kicking in?" I guessed.

"Yep." He answered.

I looked back at Adam who's knuckles were white from clenching the seat. His blue eyes were fixed on the road ahead of us and his nostrils were flared with terror. His hair was blown away from his face.

Well, at least we'd be at Beckley by the end of the day!


	11. Chapter 11

hapter 11

At eight o'clock at night, we parked our car at a Burger King (Justin had insisted we used the coupons) and headed in.

My hair was frizzy and tangled from driving, Adam's was standing on end, and Justin's looked as if he had just had it tousled by a Laistrygonian giant.

We used the coupons and sat a booth closest to the door.

I unwrapped my cheeseburger and sank my teeth into it. Greasy. Juicy. Cheesy. Burger-y. Fast food had never tasted so good.

Adam helped me demolish my fries. We must have looked really stupid; three teenagers eating like there was no tomorrow. Oh well, I hadn't had food since breakfast back at camp so I had a good excuse.

"I just thought of something," I said as I swallowed my last bite of burger. "Where are we going to sleep?"

The boys frowned.

"Good question. We'll have to figure that one out." Justin answered.

Adam took the last fry and scraped the remains of the ketchup from the little ketchup container thingy.

"Wow." He leaned back in his chair. "I can't believe I ate that much."

"Me, too." I said, feeling really disgusting.

"I dunno… I could go for some ice cream." Justin said.

"NO!" Adam and I exclaimed. The sight of food would make me hurl.

"I know. I'm kidding. Come on, let's see if we can find somewhere to sleep." Justin got up and headed out of Burger King.

Adam held the door open for me and we stepped out into the cool dark night.

"We could check into a hotel." Justin suggested.

"Nah. We should just keep driving until we hit Ghent. Then we'll find somewhere to sleep." Adam said.

"Good idea. I get to drive first!" Justin ran to the car and Adam and I followed, too full to run.

We kept on driving until ten o'clock.

I could barely keep my eyes open. Adam, beside me in the back of the car, looked really tired, too.

Eventually, I fell asleep letting my head rest on his shoulder.

"Riley," someone whispered in my ear.

I opened my eyes blearily. I was in a hotel room on a big, comfortable bed covered in thick sheets.

Adam was sitting beside me, his hair curly and wet probably from taking a shower.

"How did I get up here?" I asked, yawning and sitting up. I was still in my clothes from yesterday.

"I carried you." Adam replied, turning pink.

"Thanks." I smiled. "Where's Justin?"

"Checking out. You're stuff is in one of the cupboards in the washroom." Adam answered.

"Okay." I got out of bed and headed into the washroom. I pulled my back pack out and brushed my hair and my teeth. I closed the door and took a quick shower and then changed into a new pair of clothes.

When I came back out, Adam was still sitting on the bed where I had left him and Justin was stuffing pens and paper from the desk into his backpack.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I dunno. Just packing pens and paper in case we need some." He shrugged. "Come on, we'd better get going."

We put our backpacks over our shoulders and headed out of the hotel.

It was early; probably six or seven and the sun looked as though it had just risen. Big, dark grey clouds slowly started to cover it.

"I guess dad thinks it's time for a storm." Adam remarked, looking up at the sky.

"Hopefully not a big one." I said.

It was a big one. By the time we had reached the car, we were drenched. The car was also pretty wet from leaving the hood up. The guys closed it up and with Justin at the wheel, we flew down the highway to Flat Top.

The rain came down in huge wet drops, sounding like miniature golf balls as they splattered on the windshield and making it hard to see the road ahead of us.

Even with the wipers on, the rain poured onto the windshield.

"Are you sure we should still drive?" I asked nervously, running my fingers through my wet hair. "We could get into an accident."

"We'll be okay, Riley. Don't worry." Justin assured me. "Do you guys have any nicknames?"

I didn't know if he was purposely trying to change the subject or not but I decided to answer. "I guess. My family always calls me Riles and sometimes R.J. just to bug me."

Adam's eyes lit up. 'Yay! A chance to bug Riley!' he must have been thinking.

"What about you, Adam?"

"You can't really create a nickname out of Adam." He said. "My mom calls me… well… never mind." He turned red as though he had said too much.

"What?" I asked immediately. 'Yay! A chance to bug Adam!' I thought.

"No… it's nothing. What about you Justin?"

"It' usually J-Mac."

"Cool."

"What's your nickname Adam?" I asked. "Tell me!"

"No! If you keep asking me that, I'll call you R.J. for the rest of your life!" he told me irritably.

"I'll get it out of you one day." I said determinedly.

"Should we take the turn off here to get to Flat Top?" Justin asked.

"I dunno… the road looks pretty slippery. We're right on the edge of a cliff, too. If we have an accident we're dead meat." I said.

"We'll be okay. Take the turn off, Justin." Adam said.

Justin turned right and started driving down the slippery wet roads.

"This isn't a good idea!" I said, looking over the edge of the cliff. Grey, icy waves crashed against the sharp jagged rocks.

"Don't worry. I've got it under control." Justin assured me.

I bit my lip. I hoped so.

Adam took my hand comfortingly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Slow down! There's a really sharp turn coming up!" I said, tensing up as Justin continued to plow down the road at 180 miles/hour.

He pressed the break pedal and turned at the same time. The wheels spun out of control and we were pitched over the road guards off the side of the cliff.

We all screamed.

I saw my life flash right before my eyes. The sea looked like big black hands trying to suck us right to the very bottom or the water. Through all the panic that was running through my head, I tried to quickly summoned all of my strength and ordered the sea to calm down and protect us somehow.

With a loud crash, we hit the ice cold water.

We should have been dead but instead the car was protected by a huge bubble.

Panting and slowly drifting towards the bottom of the ocean, the three of us looked around wildly.

"We have to get to the top! The water pressure will kill Justin and I." Adam said, his breaths looking very forced.

He was right.

I grabbed the boys by the arms. I didn't know how I was going to do this. "Take a deep breath." I told them.

They did so and I opened the car door and kicked my legs, trying to get them to the top. Adam and Justin tried to help. I couldn't see the surface. I just swam as hard as I could in the direction I thought was up. We seemed to be going so slow. We would surely die here. The faces of all the people I loved flashed in front of me. I pictured my mom finding out I was dead and seeing my limp, wet, chalk white body. Tears were swimming in my eyes. The boys were running out of breath, I could tell. I kicked furiously, wanting to scream as loud as possible. I hated everything right now. I was going to die.

Then, as though someone had turned on a light under the water, I saw the sky. My arms and legs felt like lead but I kept on going.

After what seemed like hours of looking up at the sky, wondering if this would be the last thing we saw, we pushed through the surface.

Justin and Adam were gasping for breath, both trying to keep themselves from drowning.

"Hold on." I said. I went under water and grabbed them both by the waist. My head was barely above the surface as we swam for the shore.

Above us, cars were stopped all along the road.

At last, we clambered onto the rocky shoreline and collapsed.

"You're... so amazing Riley. Have I... ever... told you that?" Adam panted.

"You… seriously saved us… Riley." Justin added. "Thank you... so... so... much."

I was too exhausted to reply. I put my head in my hands, trying to calm myself down.

Adam sat up. "How are we going… to get to Florida… now?"

"I don't know… but… we're going to have to… get out of here soon or else… we'll be caught by police and… all that." Justin managed to sit up.

"You okay, Riles?" Adam asked me.

I lied and nodded my head. Feeling a lump form in my throat.

He took my hand and helped me get to my feet.

"That was so scary!" I managed to say, tears welling up in my eyes. We almost died.

"Don't worry. We're fine!" Adam assured me, pulling me into a reassuring hug. I put my head against his chest and let him hold me there as i cried.

Justin patted my shoulder. "I'm really sorry. That was my fault. I should have slowed down at the turn."

"Don't worry about it, Justin. I shouldn't have let you guys drive." I said.

The guys grinned.

"I shouldn't have agreed to drive." Adam said. "And I shouldn't have told Justin to take the turn off."

"Well… we're all okay." Justin said. "Group hug!"

"NO!" Adam exclaimed, jumping out of the way of Justin's outstretched arms.

"I was kidding." Justin said although he looked a little hurt. "Come on, I think I see helicopters and ambulances."

"Were are we going to go?" I asked. "And how are we going to get there?"

"I have an idea!" Adam said all of a sudden.

"What?"

"We tell them that someone else was driving us and the road was really slippery and blah, blah, blah, and that the person was trapped underwater with the car." He said.

"It's our only chance." I agreed.

"And we'll have to make up fake names for ourselves. You know, because of our parents and stuff like that." Adam added.

Both Justin and I nodded.

"Okay. Riley, cry your eyes out." Justin said.

"Well… you'll have to make me sad first." I said.

"Just do it!" Adam told me.

I made myself cry.

"HELP! HELP! WE'RE DOWN HERE!" we all shouted, waving our hands at the helicopters.

Adam took a sharp rock and cut himself on the arm with it.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, still waving my arms. "Now is NOT the time to be emo!"

He rolled his eyes. "We should be dead. If we don't have any cuts or anything they'll get suspicious!" he replied as the helicopters came nearer.

Justin and I did the same. We were soon covered with small scrapes and bleeding cuts.

The helicopter lowered a ladder and someone with a uniform climbed down it.

He held out his hand for someone to come up with him.

"Ladies first." Adam said.

I nodded and tried to cry some more.

The dude on the ladder grabbed me around my waist and climbed back up the ladder. I sat down in the helicopter and a woman with a first aid kit rushed up to me.

"Are going to get my friends?" I sobbed.

"Yes. Don't worry." The uniform dude said. He climbed back down and came up a few minutes later with Justin.

"Are you okay?" he asked me right away.

I just nodded as a few fake tears slid down my cheeks.

"Wh-where's Adam?" I asked.

"Coming." Justin replied.

"What about… Rob?" I asked, making up a name for our pretend driver.

Justin pretended to look really sad. "I don't know. I think he's dead."

I went into hysterics mode as the first aid lady cleaned up my 'wounds'.

Adam came up with the uniform dude.

"Adam! Is Rob dead?" I asked. I must have been a horrible actor.

"I don't know. I tried to find him but..." he broke off and pretended to hold back tears.

"Is everyone okay?" the uniform dude asked us.

We nodded. The first aid lady had moved on to Justin.

"Tell me what happened."

Justin immediately launched into a very good, very fake story.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Well... uh... Jake and Emma and I were on vacation in New York with my uncle Rob. We were driving back to our houses and the roads were really slippery. Uncle Rob turned the corner too fast and… then we fell into the water." Justin's voice cracked as he broke off.

I choked back a fake sob.

"It's alright. We'll start a search for your Uncle Rob. How did you survive with such minor injuries?" the dude asked us. "A fall like that should have killed you all."

"I… I don't know." Adam shook his head.

"But can you get us back to Florida? I just want to go home!" I said.

"We'll get you back as soon as you are all cleaned up." He replied. "Did your uncle have his driver's license?"

"Of course! He was 37!" Justin replied.

"Just making sure, son. I'll phone your parents to tell them you're okay. And what's your name, son?" he had written down mine and Adam's fake names in a spiralled notebook.

"My name is Dave. But don't bother telling our parents. They… they all have full time jobs and they are busy all day. Plus… they know when we're coming back. We can tell them ourselves." Justin lied convincingly.

"Are you sure about that? I'm sure they'd want to hear about this."

"We're positive," I insisted.

"If you say so."

How could we get so lucky?

The first aid lady finished patching up Adam and then went to the back.

"Put on your seat belts, okay kids?" she told us.

"I'm not a kid." Justin muttered.

"Good acting!" I whispered to the guys.

"You, too. You can cry pretty well." Adam grinned when the uniform dude went to the front of the helicopter. "I guess we'll be in Florida sooner than we thought."

"Are you kids okay here?" a police officer asked as he pulled up at a subway station.

"Yeah we'll be okay. Our houses aren't too far from here." Adam answered.

"Alright. Be careful." He said, letting us out.

"We will. Thank you!" I said. I closed the door and the police car pulled out of his parking spot and down the crowded road.

Big, tall buildings and fake palm trees lined the streets. There was a beach a few blocks down and seagulls shrieked like crazy, carrying food in their beaks.

"Okay. So… how are we going to find Theseus's lair?" I asked.

"Yeah… not quite sure about that." Adam replied.

"Can we get some new clothes?" Justin asked. "These ones smell like salt water."

"Yeah, I guess a little shopping couldn't hurt." I shrugged.

We took the cross walk and went into an expensive looking store.

"Get that one, Riley. It's hot!" Adam grinned, pointing at a strapless belly shirt on a mannequin.

"You wish I would." I replied, turning red.

"I know. I was kidding." He punched my arm jokingly.

I looked around and chose a fitted pink t-shirt (I now knew that Adam liked pink on me), a pair of dark skinny jeans and a pair of sneakers to match my shirt.

Adam bought a pair of black skinny jeans, black and white skate shoes and a black t-shirt that said 'the ladies love this guy'

Justin wore a pair of baggy jeans with a dark green t-shirt and a pair of black skate shoes.

We paid for our stuff, changed into it, ripped the tags off, and headed outside.

"Hot shirt," Adam remarked.

"Thanks. I like yours." I replied.

"It's true isn't it?" he said modestly.

"You wish it was." Justin and I said at the same time.

Adam rolled his eyes even though I could tell he knew we were joking.

"Let's get something to eat." Justin said, nodding at a small restaurant called 'Mr. T's Steakhouse and Grill'.

"Sure." Adam and I replied.

We opened the door.

It was completely empty except for one person standing at the cash register.

He was tall and muscular with wavy brown hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, a goatee, and some stubble. Not your typical cashier.

"Ah, Riley, Adam and Justin. I have been waiting your arrival." He said, flashing a blindingly white grin.

For a second I almost thought he was Apollo.

"Um… that's great. We ah… just took a wrong turn. This isn't… um… we have to go." Justin, for the first time at a loss for words, turned on his heel and attempted to go out the door. The only problem was that there wasn't a door anymore.

"Foolish demi-gods." The guy at the till chuckled. "They are always stupid enough to fall into my traps."

"Theseus." Adam glared at him.

"The one and only," the till guy grinned again. So _that_ was what Theseus looked like. "If you would kindly follow me downstairs I will add you to my collection of prisoners."

"You only have one other prisoner." I said.

"So?" he snapped. "If you come downstairs I'll have four."

"We'll have to fight you first." Justin said boldly.

"You and what army?" Theseus sneered. "All I see are three weak and foolish demi gods."

"We're stronger than you think." I said. Wow, that must have sounded really stupid. I needed to get used to this whole capturing thing. Both Adam and Justin looked at me with identical looks on their face clearly saying: 'try not to embarrass us, okay?'

Adam drew his sword, Slayer, from his belt disguised as a cell phone that turned into a sword when flipped open.

I uncapped Riptide. It grew to full length, Celestial bronze and all.

Justin took a keychain out of his pocket and drew the tiny little fake club, which grew into full size. It didn't look very friendly with all its spikes and metal-y stuff.

"Oh no! Are you going to fight me? Good luck with that." He chortled.

"We'll make you a deal, Theseus." Justin said.

Adam seemed to clue in, giving Theseus an evil, threatening look that sent shivers up my spine. With his black hair covering one eye and all his black clothing, he could scare the pants off any enemy. "We are going to fight you," he told Theseus. "If you win, you can take us as prisoners without hesitation. If we win, we get Electra and you have to promise not to ever kidnap any gods or goddesses or anyone ever again."

Theseus laughed. "Every time you heroes come and try to rescue the poor prisoners you make me these stupid deals. And every time, I… well, never mind. Deal."

"Good." Adam sprung foreword immediately and hacked down over Theseus's head.

Theseus quickly moved out of the way and grabbed a very sharp knife off the counter . It grew into a huge spear.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"If I can kill the Minotaur, I can kill you!" he exclaimed as Adam continued to attack him with full force.

"You never killed the Minotaur!" Justin said, running over to help Adam.

I vaulted over the counter and used all the attacks and techniques Adam and Justin had taught me.

Theseus was a good fighter, I'll give him that. The only problem was, he talked way too much. It was distracting and he grazed my arm when I found myself listening to him. The cut hurt and it bled pretty badly but I continued to fight him.

Adam, Justin, and I advanced on him. We must have been thinking the same thing because we slowly backed him into a corner. Theseus swung his spear at Justin's head. He ducked and I swung my sword at Theseus's leg when he tried to attack Justin again.

I gave him a good cut and he cried out in pain.

Adam used a really fast move on him and cut his spear in half.

That didn't stop him.

He used the remaining sharp half as a knife.

As Adam tried to knock it out of his hands, Theseus hit the side of Adam's head with the dull end of his spear.

Adam fell to the floor unconscious and his sword clattered across the kitchen of Theseus's restaurant.

I screamed as blood started to trickle from his mouth and from his head.

Justin glared. "You've gone too far, buddy!"

It was all a shock to me but Justin was now attacking Theseus at an amazing speed. I stabbed Theseus's wrist with the hilt of my sword. The hand holding his spear cracked and bent at an odd angle. The rest of his spear fell to the ground.

Theseus collapsed to the floor howling in pain.

"We won," Justin said in an angry voice I had never heard him use. His sword was poised over his chest.

"Yes… you won. And I suppose I have to keep my end of the deal. You get Electra and I don't kidnap anyone." He panted, looking afraid.

I rushed over to Adam's side. I fumbled with his wrist, trying to find his pulse.

"Riley, I'm going to tie Theseus up and get Electra. Don't move, okay?" Justin told me, panting. He squeezed my shoulder quickly.

I nodded. Before he went downstairs, I hugged him tightly. "You were amazing, Justin."

He shrugged and turned red. "You were the one who disarmed him."

He headed downstairs and I returned to Adam.

"Adam. Wake up." I whispered.

"He's probably dead." Theseus snapped.

"Shut up!" I knocked him unconscious with the hilt of my sword.

"Adam. Come on!" I didn't know what to do. I sat there beside him, making sure he still had a pulse, tears trickling down my face. "Come on Adam. Wake up. You're strong; I know you can do it!"

I brushed his bangs out of his face. If you took the blood away, he just looked like he was asleep.

I held onto his hand, stroking his palm with my thumb. "Come on… wake up." I wiped my tears away quickly, searching desperately for something to do.

What if he really was dead? Had I seen the last of him? I had never even got to tell him my true feelings for him! I'd spend the rest of my life hoping that he felt the same way towards me! That thought made me cry even harder. Okay. Stop, Riley. Stop crying. It's going to be okay.

I took a deep breath. Just when I stood up to find Justin, Adam's eyes flickered open. He wiped the blood from his mouth and looked around. He saw me, tears and all and smiled.

He stood up cautiously, putting a hand on the back of his head where Theseus had hit him and I flung my arms around him, almost knocking him back over, sobbing uncontrollably. He put his hand on the counter to stop himself from falling. I had never hugged anyone so tightly in my life. He hesitated but then embraced me back just as tightly, almost lifting me off of my feet.

"I seriously thought you were dead!" I said my voice muffled in his shirt. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. My head really hurts, that's all." He replied. He looked at the hand he had touched his head with. It was glistening and sticky with blood.

"I'll get you some nectar and ambrosia and a bandage." I told him.

We broke apart. Justin and a beautiful girl came up the stairs.

The girl had strait brown hair and a hippie hair band; almond shaped bright green eyes and was wearing a purple sun dress.

"Thank you _so_ much!" she said right away, giving us both a hug and kissing Adam on the cheek. I pretended not to see that as I went to get our backpacks.

Justin had bright red lipstick marks all over his cheeks and he wore a dreamy expression on his face.

I gave Adam a little bit of nectar and ambrosia and then tied a bandage gently around his head.

"I'm so glad someone _finally_ came and rescued me. I mean, he had me trapped down there for weeks!" Electra said loudly.

"Anytime…" Justin said, staring at her.

"So… can we get out of here?" she asked.

The Camp Half-blood vehicle stopped at the Empire State Building.

"Mt. Olympus is _here_?" I asked, looking way up at the top.

"Apparently." Adam replied.

"Hurry up! I have to get a manicure at 3 o'clock and I do NOT want to be late!" Electra said impatiently.

Justin nearly tripped over himself getting to the door so he could open it for her.

Electra pulled a card out of her crocodile skin wallet and showed it to a tall man wearing a pressed Italian suit and shades behind the front desk.

He nodded and Electra led us to the elevator.

She pressed the alarm button. I was prepared to cover my ears but instead another set of buttons appeared on the wall. She pressed the six hundred button.

In a rather awkward silence, we watched little screen thingy that told you which floor we were on.

At last, the doors opened.

I was completely blown away by what I was looking at. Instead of a regular hotel floor, we were in a huge, white stone throne room. Large thrones of all kind were arranged in a U shape. Some were occupied while others were empty.

"Electra." Said a man with a long grey beard sitting in a large grey stone throne. He had a pin striped suit on and his eyes were electric blue eyes that had yellow bolt-like lines running through them, like lightning. Exactly like Adam's. This was unmistakably his father, Zeus.

Right next to him was a man with a short graying beard, wild hair, tanned skin and a weathered face, deep, ocean green eyes exactly like mine wearing a t-shirt and Bermuda shorts. It was my dad. I recognized him immediately from the picture I had of him with Mom.

"Yes, it's me." Electra said as if it were obvious. A few of the gods and goddesses rolled their eyes.

"It is certainly a pleasure to have you back on Mt. Olympus." Zeus said.

"Thank you." She bowed and stalked over to her throne which was small and metallic purple crocodile skin.

I couldn't help but notice Justin, staring open mouth at her backside. I stepped on his foot and he snapped back.

"Ah… the heroes." Zeus looked at all of us but his gaze lingered on Adam. "My son, Adam Pierce."

Adam looked respectfully at his father, looking as though he really looked up to him.

"You have done very well."

"Thank you, father." Adam said, bowing.

"And my daughter, Riley." Poseidon, my very own dad smiled. "I must applaud you for your hard work and training."

"Although she couldn't have done it without Adam." Zeus put in.

Poseidon rolled his eyes and Adam blushed and scuffed the ground with his foot.

"And she certainly couldn't have done it without my son, Justin." Said a man in a jogging outfit. He had brown hair and brown eyes. It was obviously Hermes, Justin's dad.

"Hey dad!" Justin grinned.

"Well done, son." He said.

"These heroes have certainly done well but there is one question that remains." said a beautiful blonde woman with a silver dress. It must have been Athena, the goddess of wisdom. "What has become of Theseus?"

"Argus dealt with him." I answered. "He won't be kidnapping anyone for quite a while."

Argus had bound Theseus to a hundred years of service in the Camp Half-blood kitchens.

"Very well. You're work is done. And very well done, if I may add." She said, smiling slightly.

"Thank you," Justin, Adam and I said together. We bowed.

"This calls for a celebration!" Apollo said in his bright orange thrown. "I'll get some music!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

If you've ever been to a party on Mt. Olympus, you'll know it's _much_ better than any kindergarten party you had at Go Bananas or the Cosmic Bowling Alley. The music is basically whatever you're in the mood for (right now it was playing that John Mayer song that Adam hadn't wanted to listen to on the way to Beckley). There are huge buffet tables with literally every kind of food you want so if you want pizza you can have pizza and if you want smoked oysters (no one but my dad touched those) you can go right ahead and have those smoked oysters.

It was awesome.

I was munching on a chip, finally having gotten away from Apollo who had been trying to teach me the tango, when I heard someone approach me. I swallowed, turned around, and came face to face for the first time with my dad.

I caught my breath and for some reason, found a lump forming in my throat.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked me, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Yeah," I replied.

"You know, you look exactly like your mother." He told me. "She was one of the most wonderful people I had ever met."

I smiled. "She's pretty great."

"I'm sorry I never got to know you."

"Oh… it's okay. I mean, you must be pretty busy all the time so…" I trailed off.

He smiled. "You have done very well for someone in their first year at Camp Half-blood."

"Thanks." I said, a sense of gratitude swelling up inside of me.

"I can tell you are going to become a hero so many people will look up to." Dad told me. "You may not think so but you are a unique individual, Riley. Remember that."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. "Thank you, dad."

He put his hand on my shoulder, smiled meaningfully at me, and then disappeared.

I had finally met my dad. I felt really loved right then and there. Even though I had almost no time to get to know my dad, I felt like I knew him inside and out.

"Hey," Adam said.

I smiled and quickly wiped my eyes. He gave me a hug and I relaxed, letting a few tears leak out of my eyes.

"You know… I don't hate Justin anymore." He said. "I mean, after you told me what he did after I was knocked out, I felt pretty grateful. He's actually pretty cool."

I smiled. "I'm glad you think so. He might be a show off but… I'm sure we can put up with it."

"Yeah." He smiled. "You know, Riles, you probably did the best out of all of us. I mean, you were the one that broke Theseus's wrist."

"Well you were the one that tired him out."

"Before Justin did."

"How about this; we all did great."

Adam grinned. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

I grinned back.

"So…" he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Would you care for a dance?"

The last day at Camp Half-blood was probably the best day of my life. We got back and saw all the campers gathered at the borders, clapping for us (well, except for the Ares cabin).

After, Chiron took a group photo of Justin, Adam and I, framed it, and put it in the attic with all the other monuments of past heroes.

We had an awesome Greek themed lunch and then went to clean up our cabins.

When I opened mine, someone was sitting on my bed. He looked about seventeen or so. He had black hair, green eyes and was wearing a black Fall Out Boy t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans.

Somehow I knew who he was.

"Percy?" I asked.

"Hey, little sis!" he grinned. He stood up and shook my hand.

"Hi! Uh - Why are you here?"

"Well, I figured I'd better congratulate you and I knew I had to meet you one day or another." He replied.

"Sweet!" I grinned.

"So… first year at Camp Half-blood, huh? Has it been exciting?"

"Yeah! I've never had a better time in my life. I actually made friends for one thing, and I met my dad."

"Dad's cool." Percy nodded. "I remember meeting him way back when I was thirteen. It was a cool feeling."

"Yeah, it was."

"From what I heard, you did awesome on the quest. I mean, for a first timer, it seemed like you knew what you were doing."

"I kind of made it up as I went along." I admitted.

"That's the way to go." Percy grinned. "Well, I'm gonna go say hi to Adam and Justin, kay? It was great meeting you."

"Yeah, it was great to meet you, too." I replied.

We shook hands again and he exited the Poseidon cabin.

I took my suitcase from under my bed and stuffed all of my clothes into it. I took the pictures from the shelves and all my books, my iPod dock and my iPod, and put them in, too. I zipped it up. I straitened the bed covers and right then and there it looked like no one had ever been there. I knew it was just waiting for me to come back.

I was so, so sad to leave but I knew I would be coming back next summer. For now, all I had to worry about ways adjusting to new kids in a new school. Maybe I could try to make friends this time.

I went outside. Adam appeared right by my shoulder. I always wondered how he did that...

He smiled. "Percy's here."

"Yeah, he was in my cabin a few minutes ago."

"Come on, it's time for the beading ceremony."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You'll get your necklace and a bead like this one," Adam showed me his necklace.

We walked to the pavilion together. This time, we were allowed to sit at tables with one another.

Adam, Justin, and I sat at my table. To Adam's delight, his sister Macy was sitting with her friends.

Chiron called us up cabin by cabin.

"Poseidon cabin." he said.

The guys smiled at me as I headed up to the front.

Chiron tied a black string around my neck with a clay painted bead on it.

He nodded his head and I nodded back, heading back to my table and feeling proud of myself.

Adam, Justin, and I looked at the bead. It had a spear broken in half.

Adam and Macy went up when Chiron called the Zeus table up and Adam's was the same as mine. Finally, Justin and all his siblings were called up. His bead had a spear on it as well.

"I'll see you guys next year." Justin grinned as he slung his backpack over his shoulder, waiting to be taken back to his home.

"Bye, Justin." I hugged him.

"See you, man." Adam grinned, shaking hands with him.

He waved one last time before running down the hill to the white Camp Half-blood van.

"Hey Riles…" Adam said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?" I asked as we went to sit down by the pine tree.

"For everything." he replied.

Somehow, I knew what he was talking about. "No problem."

"I was thinking… we should visit each other during the school year. On holidays or something."

"Yeah, that'd be great." I smiled.

"I was also thinking that… you should be my girlfriend." he looked me in the eyes.

I almost couldn't believe my ears. After all the time I spent wondering if he liked me or not, he had. He did. "That'd be even better."

"All those times I told you we were just friends; that was a complete lie. I wanted to be more than just friends."

"So did I," I turned a little bit pink.

"What do you think?" he asked.

I looked into his irresistible blue eyes. The corners of his lips were turned up in that cute smile of his. There was no way I could or ever want to say no.

I smiled shyly and said, "Definitely."

He leaned forward and kissed me smack on the mouth. I kissed him back, feeling like I was flying way up in the sky. We pulled apart a few seconds later. Ha, I had a boyfriend now.

"I have to go," he said, noticing Argus waving for him to come over to the vehicle.

"I wish you didn't." I said, my heart beating a million miles an hour.

He smiled. "You'll see me again. I promise I'll visit you."

He stood up and was about to leave when I grabbed his hand.

"Wait - what about my good-bye hug?" I asked.

"How could I forget?" he grinned.

We hugged each other tightly. I breathed in the smell of his jacket and he stroked my hair once.

"See you soon," I said as we broke apart.

"See you," he replied.

He ran down the hill and before he climbed into the van, he turned and waved. I waved back.

My life had definitely turned upside down but I guess I could get used to it.


End file.
